Thomas Hardy

Chapters XXXIX–XLII

Important Quotations Explained

Summary: Chapter XLIII

Henchard continues to worry about what will become of
him if Elizabeth-Jane marries. One day, while spying the spot where Elizabeth-Jane
and Farfrae normally meet, he sees Newson through his telescope.
When Elizabeth-Jane comes home, she has not yet met Newson, but
she tells Henchard that she has received a letter from someone asking
her to meet him that night at Farfrae’s house. Much to her chagrin,
Henchard tells her that he has decided to leave Casterbridge that
very evening. Elizabeth-Jane believes that he is leaving because
he disapproves of her impending marriage to Farfrae, but he assures
her that such is not the case. Alone, Henchard departs town. He
compares his fate to that of the biblical figure Cain but declares,
“[M]y punishment is not greater than I can bear!”

That evening, at Farfrae’s house, Elizabeth-Jane meets
Newson and immediately understands the reason for Henchard’s sudden departure.
She is overjoyed at her reunion with the father she had believed
dead, but she is upset when she learns of Henchard’s deception.
Newson and Farfrae begin to plan the wedding.

Summary: Chapter XLIV

Meanwhile, Henchard makes his way through the countryside
and eventually arrives at Weydon-Priors, the very spot where he
sold his wife more than twenty-five years earlier. He reflects briefly
upon those past events and then goes on, settling in a spot some
fifty miles from Casterbridge and finding employment as a hay-trusser.
One day, he speaks to some travelers who have come from Casterbridge and
learns that the wedding between Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane is to
take place on St. Martin’s Day. He decides to go to Casterbridge for
the wedding and sets off on his journey. On the night before the wedding,
he stops in a nearby town and buys some proper clothes and a caged
goldfinch as a present for Elizabeth-Jane.

When Henchard arrives at Farfrae’s house in Casterbridge,
the celebration is already underway. As he enters, he leaves the
caged bird under a bush near the back of the house. He watches the
dancing unseen, until Elizabeth-Jane’s housekeeper informs her that
she has a visitor. She comes in to see him and reprimands him for
deceiving her about Newson. So coldly received, he decides to leave
and promises never to trouble her again.

Summary: Chapter XLV

Several days after the wedding, Elizabeth-Jane discovers
the birdcage with a bird—now dead from starvation—inside, and she
wonders how it got there. About a month later, after speaking to
one of her servants, Elizabeth-Jane figures that Henchard must have brought
it as a gift, and she begins to regret the way she treated him. When
Farfrae comes home, she asks him to help her find Henchard so that
she can make her peace with him. They track Henchard to the cottage
of Abel Whittle, who tells them that the man has just died. He gives
them a piece of paper that Henchard left, which turns out to be
his will. The will stipulates that Elizabeth-Jane not be told about
his death, that he not be buried in consecrated ground, that no
one mourn for him, and that no one remember him. Elizabeth-Jane
regrets her harsh treatment of Henchard the last time they met, and
she determines to carry out his dying wishes as best she can.

And in being forced to class herself
among the fortunate she did not cease to wonder at the persistence
of the unforeseen. . . .

Analysis: Chapters XLIII–XLV

In these final chapters, Michael Henchard succumbs to
the defeat he has courted throughout the novel. The plot of The
Mayor of Casterbridge is essentially a series of incidents
in which Henchard tries again and again to expunge the guilt he
feels for his shameful behavior at the fair at Weydon-Priors. The
depth of Henchard’s guilt is apparent in many of his actions and
emotions: his desperate need to divulge his secret to Farfrae, his
determination to remarry a woman he never loved, his willingness
to care for Elizabeth-Jane even after he learns that she is not
his daughter. Above all, the burden that Henchard bears for his
guilt manifests itself in his acceptance of the forces that seem
bent upon his destruction.

There is an element of self-destructiveness in Henchard’s
character. For example, Henchard could have easily denied the accusations of
the furmity-woman in the courtroom and spared himself from insult
and injury. His willingness to suffer is an important thread in the
fabric of his character. His sense of what is right trumps his desire
for comfort and makes it impossible for him to live a life he is convinced
he has not earned. Henchard believes that he must suffer, as though
misery were a means of becoming worthy of such love and comfort.
As he leaves Casterbridge, having alienated Elizabeth-Jane and therefore
destroyed his last hope of happiness, Henchard compares himself
to Cain, the son of Adam and Eve whom God, according to the Bible,
condemned to a lifetime of suffering for killing his brother, Abel.
His resolute exclamation that, unlike Cain, he can bear his punishment
reflects his willingness to do so.

It is through defeat that Henchard becomes a man of true
character. His willingness to bear the brunt of his suffering and
his continual refusal to foist his misery on others and resist suicide
mark him as a hero. Indeed, in many respects, Henchard conforms
to the tradition of the tragic hero, a character whose greatest
qualities or actions ultimately lead to his or her downfall. In
the novel’s last chapters, Henchard’s determination to spare Elizabeth-Jane
any sorrow elevates him into this admirable realm. As he faces a
lonely death in a humble cottage, his resolve lies in his desire
not to burden any further a world that seems so bent on human suffering.
The tragic irony of Henchard’s story is that leaving Elizabeth-Jane
to live her life in peace is his greatest and most selfless act,
proof that he is a man of worthy name and reputation. Instead, the
novel ends with the promise of his obscurity. There is no greater
punishment for a man whose every struggle has been to secure his
public standing than the dictum that he be forgotten; in keeping
with his character, Henchard has already embraced this punishment.

All of the characters (besides the troubled Henchard) are almost completely shallow and almost petty. Isn't it odd how Frafaer had no difficulty getting back together with Elizabeth-Jane after he hurt her so terribly by going for Lucetta? And how Lucetta practically refuses to own up to her own actions by claiming it was a misfortune she fell into? Although it is almost annoying how Henchard never learns from his mistakes, he truly does seem like the only "deep" character in this book.

I didn't like most of the characters, but that does not imply that I disliked the book. The book was fantastic and the story was gripping. I was initially fond of Farfrae, but then I grew to dislike him. I despised Lucetta since the first time she was described, and my hatred kept increasing as the story progressed. Elizabeth-Jane was the only character I liked; whereas, my feelings towards Michael Henchard were those of confusion. I disliked him at times. Other times, I felt pangs of sympathy towards him, and anger towards how others treate